Treasury slammed over Northern Rock blunders

Taxpayers have picked up the tab for £80m paid in fees to the investment bankers, lawyers and other advisers who worked on Northern Rock during the crisis of 2007 to 2008.

The public is also liable for hundreds of millions of pounds of losses on the riskiest mortgages which Northern Rock continued to write even after it was being kept alive with loans from the Bank of England in September 2007. These are the findings of a highly critical report by the National Audit Office into the Treasury’s role over Northern Rock.

While the NAO said the Treasury did the right thing in nationalising the Newcastle-based lender in February 2008, it points to a long list of blunders by officials.